I said I was for town, and asked him how he had fared in his business; and turned with him, walking slowly as though to hear.

I had that loaded whalebone in my pocket, and my sword, but no pistol.

It was not the place for firearms; the noise would have made an alarm.

So I turned sharp upon him and felled him.

He knew by an intuition what was about to happen, for as the blow fell he yelled "murder." That d----d fellow, Nutter, in the wood at our right, scarce a hundred yards away, halloed in answer.